The Rose & Crown (JD Wetherspoon), Maldon

A Wetherspoon’s pub in a central location in the middle of town, it has quite a traditional pub like appearance unlike many of the company’s outlets, and was presumably also a pub in a former life before Tim got his hands on it. Internally it’s a bit of a mix of old and new, and may I suspect, have been considerably extended at the rear since Wetherspoon’s took it on. The main part of the pub and the bar counter is in the opened out area at the rear, and this had something of a rustic appearance perhaps, with flagstones on the floor and a large vaulted ceiling which was quite an impressive feature and this had a couple of medieval style circular cast iron light fittings suspended from it. A number of upright leather banquettes formed secluded booths down one side whilst a TV screen was showing the football. A small courtyard garden was off to one side. The front of the pub was a little more traditional in style and certainly a little cosier with two or three interconnected rooms. There was some evidence of very old timberwork reflecting the age of the original building, but on the whole this had been replaced with much newer woodwork or obscured. Here the flooring was some sort of wooden laminate, with rough wooden boards on the wall and a pile of logs in a cage made something of a feature. A slightly larger room off to the left had grey wood panelling on much of the walls. The menu consisted of the usual JDW fayre and was a bit of a mixed bag. A beef lasagne was pretty much as expected, but the southern fried chicken strips with a honey glaze promised a lot more than the delivered. Add to that the fact that the tables were all stacked up with dirty crockery which nobody seemed to be bothering to clear, it’s certainly not somewhere I’ll be rushing back to try anything else off the menu. Beers on tap were Adnams T Drop, Jason Oliver’s Four Point Blanc, George’s Cockleboat, Ruddle’s Best, Abbot Ale and Doom Bar. Ciders meanwhile were Strongbow, Strongbow Dark Fruit, Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Haze and Magners. Overall, not great, although perhaps if I hadn’t been earing I would have left with a more positive impression than I did.

A new and very well converted Wetherspoon's that has 12 handpumps on with 10 in use with mainly local beers. Thatchers real cider was also available. This is a very spacious pub with a rear extension that takes in the old pub car park. Whether this pub will have an effect on other pubs in the town I don't know but when I looked in The Blue Boar at 1pm there was only one person in and I saw no one in The Swan. Time will tell.

Official site of The Rose & Crown - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk